• by Tanya Gazdik , August 11, 2025

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley announced the autoamaker is investing $5 billion in order to create an electric vehicle that will sell for under $30,000.

“That would be not just cheap for an electric vehicle, but competitively priced for a truck — period,” notes NPR. “Ford’s own electric F-150 Lightning and the Chevrolet Silverado EV both start at around $50,000. Among their competitors, the Tesla Cybertruck starts at more than $62,000, and the cheapest Rivian is more than $70,000. On the gas side, meanwhile, the midsize, gas-powered Ford Ranger starts at $35,000.”

The automaker calls the "universal electric vehicle platform" a ”Model T moment.”

“Ford believes it has cracked the code to battle low-cost Chinese battery-electric vehicles, in the form of its new Universal Electric Vehicle Platform and with a planned disassembly of the assembly line to produce it,” according to WardsAuto.

The truck will be able to power a home for up to six days. It will be roughly the size of the current gas-powered Maverick, but interior space will match that of a Toyota RAV4, and it will be as quick as a Mustang EcoBoost.

"Ford says the platform will spawn a family of "affordable, electric, software-defined vehicles,” "according to Car and Driver. “While Ford wouldn't go into too many details on what other vehicles are coming, a graphic showed a vehicle transforming through a variety of SUV, truck, and van shapes. The company also said at the briefing that it was working on ‘everything from vans to three-row SUVs down to B-segment vehicles.’” 

The pickup truck will be built at Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky for both the U.S. and export markets. Production will start in 2027, so the truck will likely arrive for the 2028 model year.

“The automaker is investing $2 billion into its Louisville assembly plant in addition to its previously announced $3 billion for a battery plant in Michigan,” according to Investor’s Business Daily. “Ford stressed that that investments and the EV platform will keep around 4,000 jobs in the U.S.”